<p>The title just about sums it up. Is it good?</p>
<p>the short answer is no.
the long answer is no no no no no. the food is absolutely horrible, the meal plan is a scam, even with the changes for next year.
the good news is that food in new york is so amazing, you don’t have any worries. there are probably at least 40 restaurants within a 10 block radius of columbia. grocery stores, food carts, delis, etc. just enrich the scene all the more.</p>
<p>BALT at 212 is alright, but most of the time they don’t have bacon.
Pasta at Ferris Booth is good.
Sushi dinner at Ferris Booth is decent.
Some of the JJ’s fare is good for late-night food.</p>
<p>That’s pretty much the end of good food options that accept dining dollars. Hewitt and John Jay at both pretty mediocre.</p>
<p>116th chicken and rice is where it’s at.</p>
<p>The Columbia dining hall food is a decent (good variety) but a complete rip off if are not an athlete, they hugely over-pay their workers so they charge students a lot of money. So first year eating in the dining hall gets monotonous. But it’s social and the off-campus places to eat are just spectacular, you’ve got a great range, from good cheap-great value options upto to expensive gourmet stuff. But it’s really easy to get a great meal for cheap around campus (healthy if you want as well). There are also 3-4 supermarkets in the area so it’s easy to pick up ingredients and put something simple together for a meal, this becomes really inexpensive.</p>
<p>116th chicken and rice <<<<< 115th chicken and rice, get a clue crooked!</p>
<p>Man, how can you say that? 116th has that really nice sauce… and they call you boss.</p>
<p>115th pales in comparison. I once had to go beg Morton Williams for containers because the 115th guy had run out - rookie mistake.</p>
<p>^give 115th another shot, ask for lamb over spicy rice, you’ll never look back.</p>
<p>another vote for 115 lamb over spicy rice over 116. don’t really like the sauce from 116 and the lamb tastes weird. definitely nowhere near 115.</p>
<p>115 lamb over rice >>>> 116 chicken and rice.</p>
<p>but 53rd and 5th beats all.</p>
<p>Aren’t they changing the dining options and are opening JJ’s place and Ferris for dining dollars?</p>
<p>115 chicken and rice is excellent. m2m is a couple dozen feet away from it and has decent bento boxes and pretty good cheesesteaks and burgers. also hamilton deli (hamdel) is a couple minutes away and is a pretty good sandwich place. and that’s just a few of the places within easy walking distance…</p>
<p>john jay dining hall can be pretty bad (ie “blackened” chicken as the main dinner course that was basically burnt), though brunches are generally decent (fresh omelettes, etc.). but like other people said, you get to know a lot of people when you eat there, especially early on in the year. jj’s place is great for late-night fixes in the dead of winter when you don’t want to go out too far (especially if you actually live in john jay or the llc) and don’t care about being healthy.</p>
<p>
I’ve never tried lamb over rice; I’ve only ever gotten chicken under the assumption that all the meat is the same. I’ll try it out. Btw, hi Harry.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Um, it’s 53rd and 6th.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Though once you’ve lived outside Morningside for 3 months you realize that the food in MS is an abomination whereas the rest of NYC has amazing food.</p>
<p>^I’ve lived in other NYC areas actually (financial district and midtown) - the range of good-value options is far more limited there. MS is not known city-wide for any great restaurants, but that is criterion on a 2002 alum’s mind, hardly on a college student’s.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Can’t speak for the financial district, but I’ll easily take Midtown over MS for reasonably-priced, wide-variety eating. Where were you in Midtown?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yeah, but the assertion that gets made on here from time to time – “NYC has tons of amazing restaurants, ergo you’ll have many amazing restaurants right at your doorstep at Columbia” – is a stupid one.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>east, low 40s - lots of great restaurants for $15/meal but very few for under 7/8 a meal.</p>